Stranger At My Door

17. Lost In The Crowd

My heart lurched in my chest, and I grabbed Ridge's arm.

"Ridge," I muttered, pulling his arm as I tore my eyes away from the hood to look at him. "He's here." But as I turned back, the figure was gone again.

My heart pounded louder, drowning out the sounds of the vigil.

"You saw him?" Amber asked, looping her arm around mine and almost dropping her candle in the process.

"We should go," Ridge said, his eyes darting around the crowd, scanning for any sign of danger.

Before we could move, there was a loud crash—metal clattering against stone—followed by a scream that tore through the air.

The crowd erupted into chaos.

People shoved and pushed, candles dropped to the ground, and the once-orderly vigil dissolved into a frantic mass of bodies trying to flee. Amber and I were dragged apart in the commotion, her hand slipping from mine as the surge of people carried us in different directions.

"Amber!" I screamed, but the noise of the crowd swallowed my voice. I tried to fight my way through the panicked throng, but every movement seemed to push me further away.

My pulse raced, panic rising in my throat. I needed to find Ridge, needed to find Amber.

Then, through the blur of the crowd, I saw him—the hooded figure, moving toward me.

My breath caught, and for a moment, time seemed to freeze. The figure stopped, standing perfectly still in contrast to the people running around us.

My body locked in place, as if the world had shrunk to the space between me and the hooded figure. I could feel the thudding of my pulse in my ears, drowning out the chaotic sounds of the crowd. The rain splattered around us, but the hooded figure remained motionless, just watching—waiting.

The crowd surged again, shoving me forward. My heart was pounding so loudly I could barely think. I needed to move, but it felt like my feet were stuck to the wet pavement. I turned my face away from the hooded figure to look around the crowd for Amber or Ridge.

At the far end of the crowd, trying to control the chaos, I spotted DCI Campbell. I was about to head in her direction when I felt my arm being pulled.

"Sam!" Ridge's voice cut through the chaos as he pulled me from the crowd.

"Ridge!" I gasped, relief flooding me as I stumbled into his arms, my legs trembling beneath me. His grip was firm, but his eyes were wide with urgency, darting over the crowd in search of Amber.

"We need to find her, now!" Ridge shouted, pulling me through the throng of panicked people. My eyes scanned the crowd for both the hooded man and Amber, but I couldn't see either.

The rain was pouring down harder now, blurring the edges of the world around us, making it harder to see anything beyond a few meters.

I clung to Ridge, adrenaline coursing through my veins, making everything feel jagged and sharp. The memory of the hooded figure burned into my mind—not his face, but the eerie way he stood there, watching me, his identity hidden beneath the shadows of his hood.

Suddenly, through the crowd, I spotted a flash of blonde hair—a glimpse of Amber, disappearing into an alley just across the square.

"There! Ridge, I saw her!" I yanked his arm, pulling him toward the alley. We pushed through the last of the crowd, our footsteps splashing against the slick pavement, the noise of the chaos fading behind us.

As we rounded the corner, the alley stretched out before us, but it was empty. The street on the other side was bustling with people.

But no Amber.